Fincher set for US Utopia

HBO has given a series order to a US version of UK conspiracy thriller Utopia and confirmed that House of Cards director David Fincher will direct and executive produce it.

The US version will be written by Gillian Flynn, who previously adapted her own novel for Fincher’s upcoming feature film Gone Girl. HBO – which didn’t specify an episode count for the series – will produce with Shine America.

HBO bought the remake rights to the UK series – about fans of an underground graphic novel who learn that the author has secretly written a sequel – last July, and Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network) was immediately linked.

Fincher, who made his first foray into television last year as executive producer of the US version of House of Cards but directed only the first two episodes, will direct all episodes of the American Utopia, said HBO. He will executive produce with Joshua Donen, Jane Featherstone and Shine America’s Carolyn G Bernstein.

The six-episode first season of the UK version of Utopia, created by Dennis Kelly and produced by Shine America sister company Kudos Film & TV, aired in early 2013 on Channel 4. A second season was commissioned last March and shot late last year.

The US version of the series may have to be re-titled since the Fox broadcast network recently signed a deal to make a US version of a Dutch reality show called Utopia.